AAP Statement on Passage of Funding for Children’s Health Insurance Program

By: Colleen Kraft, MD, FAAP, President, American Academy of Pediatrics

​​“With today’s passage of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the families of nearly 9 million children and their doctors can finally take a deep breath. After 114 days of worry, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) welcomes today’s bipartisan Congressional action to extend CHIP funding for six years.

“Now that Congress has acted on CHIP, we urge a similar bipartisan approach to the other pressing child health issues that remain unresolved, such as the Maternal Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV), which serves at-risk pregnant women and parents with young children. We also call on lawmakers to find a permanent solution that will allow Dreamers—immigrants brought to the United States as children and who are now young adults—to remain in the United States.

“Today’s action was an important step forward for children and families. As always, we stand ready to work with elected officials at all levels of government to advance policies that are most supportive of children and their families.”

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 66,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org and follow us on Twitter @AmerAcadPeds​